Strathmore Artist’s Pad Cover and Interview

Strathmore selected some of my work to be printed on the cover of their 400 Series Charcoal drawing pads.   To mark the occasion they also did a small interview with me on their website.  Here’s an excerpt: How did you interpret using the Strathmore Thistle for the pad cover artwork?  Anything else you’d like to share about your piece? I used the thistle as part of a plant motif that frames my portrait of the artist, Marcel Duchamp, and one of his artworks, and ties the drawing together. How did the Strathmore paper you used for the project affect your drawing (or painting) techniques? The paper’s tooth set up a wonderful texture for the charcoal, which I allowed to show through. I use Strathmore bristol plate when I draw with pencil because of it’s smooth surface, but the charcoal paper was perfect for exploiting the effects of this particular medium. (Read the rest here)  

Mary Higgins Clark Interviewed by Jonathan Santlofer at the Center for Fiction

Mary Higgins Clark is smart, funny, down to earth and earthy. When I asked her to speak at Crime Fiction Academy she didn’t hesitate. She contributed a chapter to the serial novel I put together for Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, “Inherit the Dead” and was never a diva, though she could have been. As you will see in this video, Mary is always Mary.

Linda Fairstein Interviewed by Jonathan Santlofer at the Center for Fiction

Linda Fairstein is one of those people who is so accomplished and so smart she could be intimidating if she were not so damn nice. Her life as a NYC prosecutor informs her novels with a kind of veritas we all wish we had. When she met with the CFA students afterwards, she divulged all sorts of details about her real life cases, her personal life and her writing, much of which is still resonating with me.

Anatomy of Fear Podcast – Listen to the Whole Book!

Here it is! The whole podcast of Anatomy of Fear read by yours truly Jonathan Santlofer. Listen and enjoy! Download the whole podcast here or listen below. Prologue: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/0_Anatomy_Of_Fear-Prologue.mp3] Chapter 1: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/1_Anatomy_of_Fear-Chapter1.mp3] Chapter 2-3: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/2_Anatomy_of_Fear_chapter2-3.mp3] Chapter 4-5: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/3_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter4-5.mp3] Chapter 6-8: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/4_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter6-8.mp3] Chapter 9-11: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/5_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter9-11.mp3] Chapter 12-14: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/6_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter12-14.mp3] Chapter 15-17: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/7_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter15-17.mp3] Chapter 18-19: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/8_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter18-19.mp3] Chapter 20-21: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/9_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter20-21.mp3] Chapter 25-28: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/11_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter25-28.mp3] Chapter 29: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/12_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter29.mp3] Chapter 30-31: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/13_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter30-31.mp3] Chapter 32-33:[audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/14_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter32-33.mp3] Chapter 34-35: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/15_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter34-35.mp3] Chapter 36-39: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/16_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter36-39.mp3] Chapter 40-42: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/17_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter40-42.mp3] Chapter 43-45: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/18_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter43-45.mp3] Chapter 46-48: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/19_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter46-48.mp3] Chapter 49-51: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/20_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter49-51.mp3] Chapter 42-55: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/21_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter52-55.mp3] Chapter 56-61: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/22_Anatomy_of_Fear_Chapter56-61.mp3]

Crime Fiction Lover Blog – What Does It Take?

This past September I was guest columnist for the Crime Fiction Lover blog talking about how one can become a crime writer.  Here is an excerpt: “Today we’re honoured to present a guest column by one of the most respected names in crime fiction – Jonathan Santlofer. The author of numerous bestsellers in the genre, including The Death Artist, Color Blind, The Killing Art, Anatomy of Fear and The Murder Notebook, last year he helped found the Crime Fiction Academy in New York. His classic crime cred is impressive as well, with his short stories appearing in the Ellery Queen Magazine, Akashic’s New Jersey Noir, and LA Noire, a compilation which tied in with a PlayStation/Xbox game of the same name. He edited the book, which also included stories by Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe R Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss. We thought it would be a great idea … Read more

Me and Lawrence Block on Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC

Lawrence Block and I were interviewed on the Leonard Lopate show about writing crime fiction. “Jonathan Santlofer, Director at the Crime Fiction Academy, and Lawrence Block, author and Crime Fiction Academy Master Class Instructor, talk about the academy, a program at the Center for Fiction that’s dedicated to crime writing in all its forms. Jonathan Santlofer is the author of five bestselling novels, including Anatomy of Fear and The Killing Art. Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century, and his most recent novel is A Drop of the Hard Stuff.” Listen here: [audio:http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/wp-content/uploads/lopate082312cpod.mp3]    

You Are What You Read – Ellery Queen

The mystery writing magazine Ellery Queen asked me to contribute a blog post about writing the short story. Here is an excerpt: “More and more the short story has become an important part of my writing life. The other day I was thinking about the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show, one in particular where the housewife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb then serves it to the police who come to investigate, and another about a restaurant where human flesh was the specialty of the house, and The Twilight Zone and Mr. & Mrs. North and Dragnet and Hawaiian Eye and Surfside Six and The Mod Squad, all of them running together in my brain, commingling with the detective and mystery stories I read as a boy, the Hardy Boys my favorite series, along with horror comics like Tales From the Crypt, and Classic Comics like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which … Read more

Where Art Thou – Jonathan Santlofer Lives, Writes and Paints Inside Flower District Loft

By Micki Siegel When mystery writer and artist Jonathan Santlofer wakes up each morning, he can smell the roses — literally. That’s because Santlofer and his wife, Joy, a food historian, live right in the heart of Chelsea’s flower district. He recalls the day they saw the apartment, back in January 1979: “It was gardenia season,” he says, “and the street was filled with gardenia plants. It just smelled so wonderful. That was one of the reasons why we bought our loft.” In spite of the flowers, the area — industrial by day and deserted by night — left much to be desired. As did the loft itself. “It was horrible,” Santlofer says. “It was in an old furrier’s building. Our apartment had been a deserted fur vault. And it was filthy! There were 4 inches of fur stuck to the walls and the ceilings. There was no heat or hot water. No passenger elevator, … Read more